Tag Archives: piracy

Now that Blackout Day has come and gone, I thought I’d put some thoughts here. For once, I’m going to be really short, and to the point. For reference the pertinent pieces of legislation are the Stop Online Privacy Act, the Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act of 2011, and Online Protection and Enforcement of Digital Trade Act.

First, the MPAA says the blackouts were an abuse of power. However, shutting down a site, without due process, because they supposedly host or link to illegal content is not. This is hypocrisy at its finest.

Second, making viewing or linking illegal content a felony, like rape and murder, is absurd.

Third, the MPAA has given $94M (ninety four million dollars) to politicians in an effort to get these bills passed. There was one hearing where limited representatives from the opposing view were permitted to speak or attend.

Finally, back to my point about piracy. If pirating material is easier that using it legally, can you see the real problem? The industry needs to change to make their products easier and better to use than illegally obtained copies.

Passing laws to supposedly fix a broken industry is not going to fix the broken industry.

Yes, a day late. Because I’m not going to talk like that kind of pirate, and I’m going to break my “non-controversial” seal a little bit. This is going to be about piracy through technology.

Sometimes I marvel at the various technologies we have and the ability to receive entertainment through a variety of channels. I can watch television shows, movies, and other videos on my phone, computer, or television via DVD, Blu-Ray, streaming video from my cable provider or from the Internet. However, various and frustrating barriers remain preventing this from being easier, more convenient, diverse, and overall, practically useful.